i don't think a R&D center in china makes much sense. chinese character support has been nice already. what else is needed for chinese market? all i can think of for apple to have a "R&D" center is for testing apple products, apple apps localization, and some apple specific services. if apple localizes its products, then it will segment its markets.

the correct way to look at this should be that apple got almost 1.6billion$ revenue within a god damned weekend. one i5 device is sold at $850. apple is making fcuking shit load money during just one lousy and cold december weekend. who the fcuk gives a shit about china mobile? ppl are saying that there are perks to attract buyers. then please show me those perks. i got perk emails on various products all the time, but when i finally made to stores, i usually don't see...

china mobile's TD-SCDMA network is still in infancy and TD-LTE network just started. it would take time to do the inter-op between TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE. i do think neither china mobile nor apple is ready for partnership to mature yet. i do think they are working together to get technical aspects done before deal can be inked. meanwhile, both china unicom and china telecom network are ready for FDD-LTE and inter-op between their version of LTE and their existing 3G networks...

here is an article from wsj on 18-20% border charge on iPhone or similar smartphone devices importing to china. i can not verify it. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/10/20/have-an-ipad-china-customs-says-pony-up/ but if 20% is the ball mark, then it would account most of $150 difference between what i paid in us and what you have to pay in china. i don't think the appreciation of RMB would bring in 20% difference. if apple china is still using the old exchange rate...

it is an import, thus china gov will charge tariff on it. in US, there is sale tax on buying iphone. depending on where you are, for iPhone 5 16g, it is about $700 in US. but i am not sure whether the diff of $150 is solely by tariff.

there are no doubts that china mobile's customers are most populous. and if apple can provide iphone on china mobile network, apple would benefit neatly. and apple should do it.
but chine mobile has its own issues. majority of its customers are on voice/IM only services. 15 millions or so iphone users on china mobile is not a healthy phenomenon at all. most of them would not use data service on china mobile network, but voice circuit service. to apple, nothing to...

it can be harder for apple to do it. instead it might be easier for apple to help both china telecom and china unicom to move to FDD LTE faster. it would take another couple of years for china mobile to move to TD LTE because they are not eager to upgrade. china mobile is the big fellow already. apple should not work with them if terms are not pleasant. if unicom and telecom can provide better and faster LTE services than china mobile, iPhone will thrive.